In the spring of 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish judiciary turned its attention toward Kathrin Bowar, a resident of the parish of Rhynd in Perth. On the first of April, formal proceedings were initiated against her, marking the beginning of a process that would soon escalate beyond her local community. Little remains of the testimonies or specific charges brought against Kathrin in the parish records, but the gravity with which the authorities treated her case is evidenced by the subsequent decision to remove her from Perth entirely.
Following the initial legal actions, Kathrin was ordered to be transported to Edinburgh to face the central criminal courts. The transfer of an accused individual to the capital was a significant procedural step, often indicating a transition from local kirk session oversight to the jurisdiction of the Justiciary Court. While the historical record C/EGD/1477 and trial note T/JO/897 confirm her movement toward Edinburgh for these proceedings, the documentation concludes there, leaving the ultimate outcome of Kathrin’s trial unrecorded in the surviving archives.